Paul Wackerbarth, a career Foreign
Service Officer and an alumnus of Hope College, will present "Reflections on Poland 1989" at Hope College on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 3:30 p.m. in the DeWitt Center Herrick Room.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

The address is through the department of history's
colloquium series, and will feature refreshments beginning
at 3 p.m. The Herrick Room is on the second floor of the
DeWitt Center, which is located on Columbia Avenue at 12th
Street.

A 1964 Hope graduate, Wackerbarth served as
Economic Counselor at the American Embassy in Warsaw,
Poland, from 1989 to 1992, early in the country's transition
from decades of communist rule. He was recognized for
exceptionally meritorious performance for his work in Warsaw
by State Department personnel review boards in 1990 and
1991, and was among the recipients of a group Superior Honor
Award presented to Embassy Warsaw's Political and Economic
Sections in 1992 for outstanding reporting.

Wackerbarth entered the Foreign Service in 1969,
and was promoted into the Senior Foreign Service in 1992.
He is currently serving as a new career candidate with the
State Department's Board of Examiners. He previously served
as the Department's Alternate Dispute Resolution Specialist.
From 1993 to 1996, he was Economic Counselor at
the American Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil, and he was among
the recipients of a group Meritorious Honor Award for the
Embassy Brasilia's preparation of the 1995-99 Mission
Program Plan.

From 1979 to 1983, he was Economic Section Chief
at the American Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Other
overseas tours were as Trade Promotion Officer at the U.S.
International Marketing Center in Cologne, Germany, from
1977 to 1979; Principal Officer of the American Consulate in
Belem, Brazil, from 1972 to 1974; and Vice Consul in
Barranquilla, Columbia, from 1970 to 1971.

Within the State Department in Washington, he has
served as Economic Officer for Mexico (1983-85), Desk
Officer for Honduras and El Salvador (1974-76), Career
Development Officer in the Bureau of Personnel (1997-99 and
1985-87) and Staff Officer in the Executive Secretariat
(1974). In 1992-93, he was assigned to the State
Department's Corporate Exchange Program, working in the
Planning Departments of Philip Morris International and
Kraft General Foods International in Rye Brook, N.Y.

He is a 1988 graduate of the National War College.
He graduated from Indiana University with a master of arts
degree in 1968.

In addition to his government service, he has
taught at Kansas State University and was employed by the
Oxford Paper Company. At Indiana University he was on the
Residence Halls Counseling and Guidance staff.

His wife, Cindy, is also a 1964 Hope graduate.
They live in Falls Church, Va., and have two daughters and a
son.